Some of the House Rules I've Added for the StarSlinger Setting (White Star)

Part of running an OSR styled game is house ruling. Well, at least that's how it is for me. I've been adding house rules to my games since we ignored weapon speed in AD&D 1e (I think most people ignore that)

I've got a few house rules that stray from the White Star as written, but that's not surprising, as I've added a half dozen or so classes to the StarSlinger setting thus far.

• First, I've expanded the bonuses for high stats slightly. A score of 13-16 gives a + 1 and a score of 17 or 18 gives a + 2. Nothing huge, but it can me a life saver.

• Death is at zero HP, with the ability to save vs death  to hold on until help arrives. The roll to save is adjusted by the negative amount of HP the PC is at, so going down to - 5 means a minus 5 on the save to no die. Natural 20s always save.

• If you want to attempt something not covered by the rules (and as this is an OSR game, it's quite likely to occur multiple times per session) such as picking a lock, hacking a computer and the like, it's a save adjusted by any relevant stat bonus and a modifier chosen by the GM (me) based on difficulty. Covers a whole lot of ground this way and does not slow down play.

Those are the main ones thus far. There are others that aren't fleshed out yet and I'm not even sure they'll come into play (or are even needed)

White Box Thoughts - How to do Subclasses Without Doing Subclasses - Kinda Sorta...

Today kicks off a week of vacation (well, after waking at noon yesterday I was kinda on vacation, but I had "uncle duty" so not sure it counts ;) and my mind has already turned heavily in the direction of all things gaming.

I laid in bed last night thinking of Swords & Wizardry White Box and how easy it is to house rule. That simplicity is also a trap, as you can house rule things to be way more complicated than White Box needs.

I want barbarians, paladins, rangers and "expert treasure finders" in my campaign (and maybe various types of clerics and magic-users) but I don't want the class bloat. So, this is what I'm toying with.

- Let's take Fighters. At 2nd level, a fighter has to make a choice. They choose a path for lack of a better phrase:

• Most fighters in the campaign (at least NPCs) would choose the Path of the Warrior. Warriors would receive + 1 and + 1 damage with a single chosen weapon type - ex. long sword, short sword, battle axe, long bow, etc)
• Some fighters would choose the Path of the Barbarian. Barbarians would get to enrage once per day for 5 rounds and receive + 2 hit and + 2 damage with any hand held or thrown weapons when enraged.
• Others may choose the Path of the Ranger. They would get + 1 to hit against ogres, orcs, goblins and kobolds (certain campaigns may add or subtract to this list.) They would also track outdoors on a 4 in 6 chance and indoors on a 2 in 6 chance (dwarven rangers would reverse those numbers.)
• The Path of the Paladin requires a "just cause" to follow. Laying of Hands would heal for up to 2 HP per level per day, distributed as the Paladin wishes. He could heal 2 wounded companions for 1 HP each after a battle or 1 companion for 2 points. Or heal 1 companion for 1 HP and save the other point for later in the day.
• The Path of the Expert Treasure Hunter requires a choice of specialization of sorts. Lock Expert or Trap Expert. Expertise gives a 4 in 6 chance of success with normal locks and traps. The non-chosen specialization would have a 2 in 6 chance. Most locks and traps would be of normal difficulty, but some may be simple or more difficult and as such would adjust the chance of success up or down by 1 in 6)

I'm happy to take feedback, criticisms and such. I believe the above is broadly balanced but what the heck do I know?

Cover Your Damn Head Before You Catch Death! Further Thoughts on Helmets.

Below is one of those rules from the AD&D 1e DMG that wasn't found until we had been playing for nearly a year, and quickly decided not to follow after finding it.

It is assumed that an appropriate type of head armoring will be added to the suit of armor in order to allow uniform protection of the wearer. Wearing of a "great helm" odds the appropriate weight and restricts vision to the front 60" only, but it gives the head AC 1. If a helmet is not worn, 1 blow in 6 will strike at the AC 10 head, unless the opponent is intelligent, in which case 1 blow in 2 will be aimed at the AC 10 head (d6, 1-3 = head blow) (AD&D 1e DMG)

What are the odds of striking the head if a helmet IS worn? 1 in 6? Seems like it. I mean, the AC is given for a great helm in the example.

That would mean that every attack by the PCs required an extra d6 roll to determine if the head was a target or not. Not bloody likely to happen.

Was there a similar rule in previous editions (OD&D, B/X) or later editions (BECMI / 2e)?

I still prefer +Joe D 's house rules from Blood Island.

There's Blood in the Water - Blood Island that Is!

Tonight (or is it now last night?) the regular Saturday Night group got to play test the latest incarnation of +Joe D 's Blood Island, which is both a setting and a set of OSR house rules (and may evolve into it's own full set of rules.)

In the previous incarnation of Blood Island, I played Gru, a Viking Berserker with a fondness for cheese dip. Not that there was any cheese dip to be found, alas.

Today I played G'Ru, a human magic-user with some flexibility in both spells prepared (not spell slots one can actually cast, which hues close to AD&D as far as I can tell) and spell lists. I have access to both magic-user and illusionist spell lists, including spells from UA - Phantom Armor kept my squish ass alive ;)

Great time, and I like Joe's variation on my variation of the Luck rules that I borrowed and hacked from the DCC RPG. I may need to use Joe's version instead, as it seems to be the proper evolution for the concept.

In any case, great game session, nice mongrelization of various OSR / Classic AD&D rules. I especially enjoyed the added granularity of using a D12 for skill checks, something that is losely based on LotFP Weird Fantasy's D6 skill check for specialists.

We're looking for more Joe. Consider this some motivation :)

House Rules - Do You Do Them and Why?

Recently I was asked if I had my house rules for S&W in one place, and the answer I wanted to give was "Yes. In my head."

It's not that I don't have them written down - most if not all of them have been posted and discussed here at The Tavern - I just don't have them all in a single post, let alone a downloadable document. Maybe with next week's mostly staycation I'll have a chance to rectify that.

The thing is, with me, I find it damn near impossible to run any game, especially an OSR game, as written. With nearly 35 years in the hobby, I have my own ideas of what works best. These days, with all of the OSR games available (many for free) making a mongrelization of the various rule sets is much like picking from the classic Chinese Restaurant menu - 1 from column a, 1 from column b, etc. Swords & Wizardry Complete is my baseline, but my games step far away from that baseline in actual play.

Do you use house rules in your campaigns? Just a few minor ones or a crapton of large ones? Maybe something inbetween. Do you RAW (run as written) and if so, why? If you house rule, why?

At What Point Do House Rules Become Their Own Ruleset?

Swords & Wizardry begot Crypts & Things and perhaps X-plorers and others.

+Joe D is working an an awesome houseruling of LotFP Weird Fantasy (I've seen it and played in it and it is good). In the end, it I suspect it will be a combination of houserules and setting, more of it's own thing than the rules that it is based on, but time will tell.

I play with a houseruled version of S&W Complete, which is close enough to the core rules that my house rules can fit on a single page.

At what point do houserules stand on their own as a separate set of rules?

Sometimes All You Need is a Little Luck - Using "Luck" in Swords & Wizardry

I like to tinker.

Very few RPG rulesets survive intact before the first session of a new campaign when placed in my hands, and Swords & Wizardry Complete is no different.

I think the Luck house rule, inspired by the DCC RPG, worked better in game then I could have ever hoped. Actually, it went so well, one of my players is considering using the same house rule, adjusted for his upcoming LotFP Weird Fantasy game. There is no greater flattery in gaming than having a creation of yours, no matter how big or small, used by another.

Anyhow, here's the latest revision to the Luck Rules, as used in my S&W Complete / Wilderlands Campaign that kicked of this past Saturday:

- Luck - 
     All characters start with 5 points of luck, adjusted as follows -
           Thieves + 2
           Clerics + 1
           Monks + 1
           Halflings + 2 (race and class bonuses are cumulative)

     Once per encounter, a player  can decide to burn luck after rolling a die or after a die roll that would effect him / her (NPC or monster attack / damage / surprise / etc)

         1 point spent equals + 2 to the roll

         2 points spent equals a reroll

         Halflings can spend their "once an encounter" luck ability on another PC at twice the                    stated cost - 2 points or 4 points

     At the end of each session players get back some luck, but in no case more than they started the campaign with:

           Thieves get back 1d4
           Clerics / Monks get back 1d3
           All other classes get back 1d2
           Halflings add + 2 to the roll
           (multi-class characters use the best class to determine the size of the die)

Note: I'm considering allowing the "burning" of luck - a permanent loss of luck (probably 1d3 points) to avoid death - the PC would instead be a "zero" HP

Certain adventures - large quests at the behest of a god or the like, may result in the permanent increase of a character's Luck total by 1d2 points. These quests would obviously be rare and dangerous.

The End of One Campaign Brings on a Fresh Beginning

We've had a real tough time getting the group together on a regular basis since mid July - summer distractions and other assorted events kept things dragging, and the gain and then loss of two players changed the party dynamics. It didn't help that I had just kicked off the new DCC RPG campaign at the start of the summer, replacing the AD&D / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk.

The feedback from my players was the first campaign we played, ACKS in Blackmarsh, was still the game they always thought back on. The characters resonated, the setting had meaning and their actions had impact. I ran it as a "seat of my pants" sandbox, which was stressful, yet exciting at the same time. We also used Obsidian Portal for weekly character updates and players that made weekly recaps got bonus expo. Player drops and gains caused us to move on from this, but the style seems to fit my players and me more than anything else we've done.

So, last night we put it up to a player vote - start anew or not, and if so, what rules and style and such?

The results were pretty much as follows. Start anew, with a sandbox styled campaign. For the rules, AD&D came up but Swords & Wizardry Complete was the ruleset decided upon. Very close to AD&D and it allows me to houserule the shit out of it, which I will detail some of at the end of this post.

Choosing a setting was a bit trickier. Greyhawk folio? Forgotten Realms gray box? Then I remember +Rob Conley excellent Points of Light from Goodman Games. I copied the descriptions of the 4 settings into the Hangout's chat box, and it was quickly decided to use Southland. Just enough to kickstart a campaign without being bogged down in excessive details.

Rules chosen? Check

Setting Chosen? Check

Obsidian Portal set up? Check

Then we discussed house rules, which we are liberally borrowing from other OSR games.

- Cleave, as per the ACKS rules. Will probably use the ACKS charts for death and dismemberment too.

- All ability score bonuses range from + 1 to + 3 and penalties from -1 to -3

- Liberal multiclassing, assuming the player can give an in game logical reason for the class combo

- Few class / race restrictions. Explain to me why you want to play the combo in terms of the game, not the rules

- No level limits on single class demihumans

- Thief skills and the like will be based off of the single save (much like in Crypts & Things). Unskilled use of skills will need an 18 (adjusted by ability bonus / penalty) to succeed, and take 10 times longer to accomplish

- Luck - I like the use of luck in the DCC RPG game, and here's my attempt at a variation for other OSR games:
     All characters start with 5 points of luck, adjusted as follows - Thieves + 2, Clerics + 1, Monks + 1 and Halflings + 2 (race and class bonuses are cumulative)
     Once per encounter, a player  can decide to burn luck after rolling a die
         1 point spent equals + 2 to the roll
         2 points spent equals a reroll
           Halflings can spend their "once an encounter" luck ability on another PC at twice the                    stated cost - 2 points or 4 points
     At end of the adventure (not session - usually 1-3 sessions) players get back some luck, but in        no case more than they started the campaign with:
           Thieves get back 1d4
           Clerics / Monks get back 1d3
           All other classes get back 1d2
           Halflings add + 2 to the roll

Tip Toe Through the Tunnels and Avoid the Trolls...

I really have no idea if I'll be running DCC (and finally wrapping up Doom of the Savage Kings) or some Tunnels & Trolls - all depends on the turnout we get for Saturday Night's Hangout Session.

In the meantime I'm thinking of some house rules...

I'm figuring classic fantasy races only. Well, classic for T&T, including fairies and leprechauns. I see hobbits are actually called "hobbits". Guess FBI didnt fear the Tolkien Estate as much as TSR did.

Humans get to roll 2 extra d6 at the end of generating their stats, and can swap them with any other dice rolled. As I'll be using Triples Are Rolled Over, it may allow the humans to overcome some of the stat advantages the demihumans have.

I've going to allow creative use of the Saving Rolls, especially for the rogues. I was thinking of using the optional skills from the back of 5.5 rules but they seem to add move numbers tracking then they are worth, at least for now.

Full "death spiral" for the monsters (both in combat dice and adds) and Spite Damage. I'll be using the special attacks based on Spite from 7e for some of the more special monsters. I've done enough of them on the blog to have some decently new things to throw at the party.

Definitely using the 5x expo and leveling rules as a base and not the 7x rules. Both the 7e and 7.5e expo and level rules seem broken to me. I understand why they are as they are, but they just dont feel right (I'm interested in seeing the dT&T leveling rules).

That's probably the extent of the house rules, which as house rules go aren't all that much ;)

Thieves - The Backstabbing Little Bastards That Hardly Ever Backstab! (Swords & Wizardry Houserules)

The one thing I've generally disliked about playing thieves is that their backstabbing ability rarely comes into play when playing without a grid. It's a shame, too, as it is a cool ability and the whole idea of putting a thief in the thick of combat is just plain fun. Well, dangerous too, but danger is fun. :)

With the grid you can show placement and facing and the thief can move into a backstabbing position right in the middle of combat. When playing gridles, or Theatre of the Mind, those opportunities are pretty much lost. Let's try to work them back in.

Surprise. When the thief gets the drop on an opponent you probably should allow the thief to make a backstab attack. He's going for vitals, the opponent has his guard down, it should have the potential to be very painful.

Initiative on the first round of combat. This depends on how combat heavy a campaign is that you are running. If you want to make the thieves more than trap monkeys in your campaign, give them the opportunity for a reduced backstab if the thief beats their opponent's initiative in the first round of combat in an encounter: + 2 hit instead of + 4, and one multiple less on the damage bonus (so the damage bonus wouldn't kick into level 5, where it would be at x2 and move up from there). Of course, this also puts the lightly armored thief in the party's front lines.

Pick Pockets Skill - if you treat picking pockets as more of a distraction type skill, one thief could set up a target for another thief in the midst of combat. Would work very well in a dark alley ;)

Remember, what's good for the goose is also good for the gander. If you put any of these houserules in play for the PC thieves you've also made the NPC thieves more dangerous. That can only be a good thing, right?

Some House Rules From the Tavern for Swords & Wizardry

I have this really bad habit. I house rule the just about every game I run. I can't help it.

The thing is, Swords & Wizardry is built for house ruling, and it's damn hard to break the rules while doing so.

Without further ado, here's some of my current house rules:

- A killing blow results in a free attack against any enemy in reach. Fighters and their subclasses can keep this going for up to their level in attacks, assuming each blow is a killing blow. Other classes get one free attack after a killing blow (Inspired by ACKS)

- Spell bonuses from high ability scores: if the prime stat (WIS for Clerics and INT for Magic-Users) of the caster is 13+, they are entitled to memorize bonus spells each day.
     13-15 = bonus 1st level spell
     16-17 = bonus 2nd level spell
     18+    = bonus 3rd level spell
Bonus spells are cumulative. Bonus spells are only available when the caster can normally cast that level of spell (exceptions may be made for 1st level Clerics and 1st level spells)

- I find that I don't stress racial level limits, as PC death seems most prominent at 1st level and name level, when encounters start to get all swingy again.

- One thing I'd like to borrow from the DCC RPG is The Mighty Feat of Arms, as I think it's one of the finest things the system has added to gaming in general. I just need to tweak a version of it to S&W ;)

- Max HP at 1st level. "1" are rolled again at later levels, but kept if the second roll is a one

- BAD ASS - Bonuses for Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple
     I've changed the conversion from 25 points of damage to 10 for a BAD ASS, and 10 x leftover  damage points for expo, awarded to each PC (not divided) - It makes them choose between an XP boost or encounter help, and makes rolling a "1" on a to-hit roll exciting, sorta. It's worked well in my Rappan Athuk / AD&D 1e campaign since last fall.

Do You Have a Preferred Multi-Classing System for Your OSR System of Choice?

When I talk multi-classing, I'm also counting "Dual Classing" as per the AD&D rules under that general heading.

Armor restrictions, weapon restrictions, class combination restrictions, hit point calculations and the like - can all differ slightly depending on the system of choice.

I'm not all that happy with the AD&D method, as it seems too restrictive in some ways (class combinations until UA made that insane) and HP calculations (I run with "fractional HP" when my multiclass party members roll HP).

Forget dual classing in AD&D - the stats required are extremely high, especially if you are coming from or going to a sub class.

So, what's your favorite method? Do you go BTB (anybook ;) or do you have your own set of house rules?

I don't think this is going to come up in Crypts & Things, because EVERYONE is effectively multiclassed as a Rogue (even the Thieves), but ya never know...

Looking At Saving Throw as Task Resolution in Swords & Wizardry (Via Crypts & Things)

As I spend time thinking about skills, especially Thief skills and Ranger skills in Swords & Wizardry, I find myself going in circles. I'm going in circles because I continually return to the dead ass simple solution to such that was presented in Crypts & Things (page 25), a Swords and Sorcery RPG derived from the Swords & Wizardry rules.

Here's a greatly edited down version version:


When attempting a particular task, the player rolls 1d20, applies any relevant attribute modifiers (e.g. a bonus of +1 to +3, a penalty of -1 to -3, or no modifier, depending on the attribute score), and any additional modifiers that the Crypt Keeper judges appropriate.

If the modified roll equals or exceeds the character’s saving throw number, the task is successful.
An unmodified roll of a 20 always indicates success, and an unmodified roll of a 1 always indicates failure.

(edit: classes get bonuses for relevant skills, so a thief would get + 3 on the Saving Rolls associated with traditional thief skills, rangers would get a bonus to tracking, etc)

Now, remember, Swords & Wizardry uses a single Saving Throw for the classes. This used to irk me. Now I'm beginning to like it for sheer simplicity. Using the saving throw for skill and task resolution? That's one of those "smack yourself in the head for not thinking it up yourself" moments.

Is it perfect? No, I'm sure it can be "gamed" by the right, or wrong, players.

But for what is going to be my perpetually short handed group of adventurers, this is exactly what the Referee ordered. I've got some tweaking to work on with this, such as the first time a Natural 20 is rolled in a certain circumstance (picking a lock, finding tracks or swimming a turbulent river and the like) I'm going to give the PC a + 1 to that particular circumstance as a permanent bonus. Well, at least that's the current plan. Who knows where I'll be at the end of the month ;)

Some Thoughts on Houseruling the Swords & Wizardry Core Document

I mentioned last week that we kicked off a Swords & Wizardry Campaign for my "Old Group", consisting of the core of the FtF and later MMO group. It looks like we are going to have a group ranging in side from 2 to 4 (as opposed to my AD&D 1e / OSRIC group on Sat Nights that ranges from 4 to 6).

With a group of such small numbers, I not only have to be ready to tweak the encounters a bit, depending on how many show up (as there is much less margin for error with the smaller group numbers) but I also need to tweak some of the rules a bit, just to balance things out for the characters.

One of the great things about Swords &Wizardry Core (and Whitebox too) is the freely available editable document that you can download and tweak to your heart's content. Edit it, save it, distribute it to my players.

I've already decided I'm bringing over the Ranger clase from S&W Complete, so "bamn!", it it goes to the Tenkar's Tavern Sword & Wizardry House Rules and Tweaks Edition - TTS&WRTE ;) While I'm at it, I'll add in the thief class, and allow demihumans to multiclass.

Granting that bonus spell from high Wisdom at 1st level, when otherwise the Cleric would have none? Slipping that right in. At the same time, I'm going to allow Clerics to swap in a healing spell for any memorized spell of that level or higher. So, he can swap in a CLW for a 1st level spell or higher, allowing the Clerics the flexibility of a varied spell assortment while allowing him to also heal as needed (yeah, it's 3rd edition-ish, but I like it)

A killing blow granting a free attack on an adjacent enemy, much like in ACKS? Yep.

Maybe a skill / feat system like ACKS, SWN or Arrows of Indira - the less players I have, the more hooks I could use to hang things on, and a skill system allows the addition of some thieving abilities without the need of a thief class. I'm up in the air on this one. Or may just steal it from Crypts & Things.

Actually, the Crypts & Things method may be the simplest to implement.

There's more I'm sure that I'll either think up before the game and find the need of during game. We might not have the second session until the end of the month, so I have time to tweak ;)

What Do You Award Expo for in Your Campaigns?

Sure, there's expo for killing things and taking their stuff - combat and loot - but what other things can you award expo for?

Me, I award expo for defeating an opponent - fleeing and surrender gains the same expo as killing them (although in the case of surrendering it seems like my players tend to kill most of them afterwards anyway - ah well).

I DON'T award expo for gaining, retaining or using magic items. The item itself is it's own reward. However, if it is sold before it is used, the GP gained is awarded as expo.

I have my "Attack the Darkness" houserule, where Natural 1's on an attack roll apply points of damage to a pool. The points left in that pool at the end of a session are multiplied by 10 and awarded as an XP bonus to the PCs.

When players complete an adventure or a level in a large dungeon (such as Rappan Athuk) I award an expo bonus based on the difficulty of the adventure or level - this helps balance out the lack of rewarding expo for magic items.

So, what do you award expo for?

Yet More Thoughts on "Attacking the Darkness" - BAD ASS

Back in October I wrote about my Attacking the Darkness houserule, otherwise known as BAD ASS: Benefits from Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple.

The idea was pretty simple:

When players roll a natural 1 they Attack the Darkness. Roll damage as usual and put it in the Attack the Darkness Pool.

Every 25 points in the pool can be cashed in for various rerolls. Unused points are converted to XP for the players at a rate of 1 XP per point.

After playtesting the rules, I discovered that 25 points was too high a threshold to hit. So I lowered it to 10 pts of damage per BAD ASS Token, and kept the points rolling per story arc (not starting new each session).

I then upped the conversion to expo to 10x per point. So, the XP actually matters. Result?

My players didn't cash in the 2 BAD ASS tokens they earned for a reroll, but the thought did come up. Instead, everyone cashed in the points for 290 XP at the end of the adventure.

I'll need to roll with it for a second arc to see if I need to tweak it again, but I do like it's potential.

Here it is in it's current glory:


BAD ASS - Benefits from Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple


Attacking the Darkness: On a natural roll of 1, the character in question "Attacks the Darkness". Roll damage as if you had a successful hit. These points are added to the BAD ASS Pool.

BAD ASS Pool: Points are placed by the party in the BAD ASS Pool as described above. Points are accumulated in a per session manner, and unused points will be "cashed out" at the end of the game session.

At 10 points (and each interval of 10) the party has the option of converting 10 points into a BAD ASS Token (you can use coins or just make a note of it). The BAD ASS Token, or a BAT, can be used to reroll certain rolls during the game session. Some examples are as follows:

- A single attack roll (but not a natural 1)

- A saving throw

- An initiative roll (group or individual, depending on system used)

- A damage roll for a weapon or spell

- A skill roll, such as a thief's open locks or an elf's hear noise chance.

- A moral roll for a party member's henchman.

Points spent on BATs can't be cashed out at the end of the gaming session. They are gone.

Unused BATs can't be saved between sessions and will expire and the end of the gaming session.

Cashed out points are converted into expo on a 1 pt to 10 XP basis . Everyone in the party gets the full value of the cashed out points - they are not divided amongst the players.

When Running Your Favorite RPG, What Rules Do You Ignore?

I'd Like to Know the Spell Being Casted by the Magic-User ;)

Pretty much everyone houserules to some extent, but when we think of houserules we usually think of "what we are adding". Sometime, we add to the RPG experience by leaving out, ignoring or tweaking the shit out of some rules.

The next campaign I run will be using the AD&D 1e rules, and there is an assortment of rules, big and small, that I'll be leaving out or horribly tweaking:

Weapon Speed is out - never used it back in the day, not going to even attempt it now.

Demi-Human Level Limits - odds are, unless someone chooses a halfing fighter of a half-elf cleric, we wouldn't bounce up against them anyway. If we reach that level, I won't be holding my PCs back.

Weapon Proficiencies - if it's on your list, you know how to use it. Simple enough. Fighters know them all unless they are truly exotic.

Spell Components Tracking - buy the cheap ones and you have them for life, barring your belongings burning up or getting stripped naked. The more expensive ones will still be tracked.

Helms - what was it, 1 in 6 attacks are made against the un-helmeted head? too much trouble for too little return

Combat Initiative - Spell, Missile, Combat order - if it's your turn based on initiative roll, you go. Counting spell segments to the next boom? Not worth the investment.

Strength Limits Based on Gender - don't expect it to come up, but if it does, I'll be ignoring it

Assassins - Not really a class made for group play. Gone

The might be some more that escape me at the moment, but this is the main list.

What rules to you ignore or remove from the RPGs you run, and why?

The Future is Going Back to the Past - My New Campaign Will Be AD&D 1e

I let my group do an informal vote on the future of our Saturday Night gaming sessions. We had started with ACKS, moved on to A&A to do some playtesting (and caused the whole 2000 cp / rats ruckus) and now we are going back to the past: AD&D 1e with some house rules and Unearthed Arcana (no UA classes though). Players can reference AD&D 1e or OSRIC as they choose

I'll also be running my AD&D 1e sessions in 3 to 4 week arcs, then playing in Keith's Echelon campaign playtest for 3 to 4 weeks, and so on. It gives the DM's time to prep some rocking sessions and get to play too.

This should be a blast! No matter the rule set, if I don't know the rule I default to my AD&D genetic memory. It serves me well. I suspect I'll be able to run this with minimal page flipping after a session or two.

A for the house rules, this is what I have so far:

1 - Fighters and fighter subclasses are proficient in all weapons.

2 - Fighters start with 2 specialized weapons, subclasses 1. No others are gained later. No double specialization.

3 - Cleave rule as per ACKS. Fighters and subclasses do not gain 1 attack per level when fighter creatures under 1 HD

4 - Magic-User and Illusionist gain bonus spells as per their Intelligence Score, using the Wisdom Bonus spell chart for Clerics

5 - Clerics may gain use of certain non-cleric weapons depending on the god they follow.

6 - Bard Class as per Dragon Issue #56

7 - Monster and NPC saves will be converted into Spell Attack Rolls as per my earlier post on the subject

8 - 100 coins per pounds, not 10 coins per pound

9 - % Chance to learn spell for Magic Users is gone

10 - after determining initial spells randomly, Magic-Users can pick one further spell of their choice

11 - No Assassins, No evil PCs (I know my group way too well to allow this)

Invested in the Dice - Changing Perspective From DM to Player

As I mentioned in my previous post, last night was an unexpected opportunity to sit in a game as a players instead of my normal slot as DM. I was also a bit sleep deprived and running on a caffeine high, so maybe my perception was a bit skewed, but I noticed something - dice roll results meant something to me.

When I DM, I let dice roll as they may. I'm not looking to kill PCs, but shit happens and dice are the impartial arbitrators of the rules of fate. I'm very happy with that, even if I do feel for the players when their characters get killed.

As a player, I see myself focused on every die roll. I'm not talking just my own rolls either, but the rolls of my fellow players and the GM. My PC's survival is dependent in a large part on how well my fellow PCs roll and how poorly the DM rolls.

I guess I need to switch the side of the DM screen I sit at a bit more often.

I can now understand the argument to put more die rolls into the hands of the PCs and away from the DM when possible and logical, as it makes players more involved in the whole process. I used to think turning monsters saves into static spell attack rolls based on the save number as blasphemy, but I can see how it might add to the play experience from the players' point of view.

Anything that makes players more involved in the gameplay without changing the balance of the game should art the very least be tried in my opinion.

I may have just have to house rule this into my games later...

More Thoughts on "Attacking the Darkness" - BAD ASS

Yep, I've got some more ideas for the Attacking the Darkness idea I wrote about yesterday.

First off, every subsystem needs an awesome acronym, so I'm introducing:

BAD ASS - Benefits from Attacking the Darkness, Advantages Shared and Simple


Attacking the Darkness: On a natural roll of 1, the character in question "Attacks the Darkness". Roll damage as if you had a successful hit. These points are added to the BAD ASS Pool.

BAD ASS Pool: Points are placed by the party in the BAD ASS Pool as described above. Points are accumulated in a per session manner, and unused points will be "cashed out" at the end of the game session.

At 25 points (and each interval of 25) the party has the option of converting 25 points into a BAD ASS token (you can use coins or just make a note of it). The BAD ASS Token, or BAT, can be used to reroll certain rolls during the game session. Some examples are as follows:

- A single attack roll (but not a natural 1)

- A saving throw

- An initiative roll (group or individual, depending on system used)

- A damage roll for a weapon or spell

- A skill roll, such as a thief's open locks or an elf's hear noise chance.

- A moral roll for a party member's henchman.

Points spent on BATs can't be cashed out at the end of the gaming session. They are gone.

Unused BATs can't be saved between sessions and will expire and the end of the gaming session.

Cashed out points are converted into expo on a 1 to 1 basis multiplied by the receiving character's level. Everyone in the party gets the full value of the cashed out points - they are not divided amongst the players.

I'll find out next Saturday how good my players are at accumulating and using their BAD ASS BATs